California Decides To Ban Chlorpyrifos Due To Its Harmful Effects

California has announced to ban the pesticide which is used widely in crops chlorpyrifos as the pesticide is said to be neurologically harmful to the newborns and children. As we all know that California is one of the biggest nations in agriculture and the state officials have decided to ban after studying all the facts as the pesticide is highly used in the crops like oranges, grapes, and almonds which can, “causes serious health effects in children and other sensitive populations at lower levels of exposure than previously understood.” According to the California Environmental Protection Agency, the California Gov. Gavin Newsom has conveyed that he is going to support the farmers with alternatives of the crops with $5.7 million.

Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, said in a statement, “Gov. Newsom has done what the Trump administration has refused to do: protect children, farmworkers and millions of others from being exposed to this neurotoxic pesticide, With the governor’s action, California is once again showing leadership in protecting public health.” Just like California, there are other states who have taken such decisions to ban harmful pesticide like chlorpyrifos. Hawaii was the first state to ever ban pesticide but the ban will be fully functional by the year 2022 and just like Hawaii, Oregon, Connecticut, and New Jersey also have bills to take chlorpyrifos off the market.

Gregg Schmidt, the spokesperson of the company DowDuPont conveyed in an e-mail, “This proposal disregards a robust database of more than 4,000 studies and reports examining the product in terms of health, safety, and the environment, We are evaluating all options to challenge this proposal.”

Miriam Rotkin-Ellman, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, “It is groundbreaking, The states can chip away at this, and California’s a big part of the puzzle. Ultimately, though, we are going to need that federal ban to ensure protection for everybody.”